My wife, Deb, went with our daughter, Emma, to Peru on Friday for three weeks for Deb's 25th high school reunion. I stayed home with our son, Eric. It's amazing how quiet the house is. It feels like a different house. I am also struck by how much better I am focusing on my work. But boy do I miss them. Time alone in a relationship can be quite challenging.

Over the years we have always had separations like this because my family is in New York and Deb's is in Peru. We have both also gone on our own trips separately. I find these times to be so incredibly valuable for me and for our relationship.

The following is a guest post from Daniel Sherwin. Daniel is a single dad to a daughter (9) and son (6). His site, DadSolo.com, provides resources and information for single dads.

His post is about managing the morning routine, which is something my wife, Deb, and I are always talking about. I am usually working during the morning rush, which means that Deb is left juggling dressing our daughter, getting our son out of bed, making breakfast, preparing two lunchboxes, and feeding the dog, all in less than an hour.

The ethos of parenting has evolved over the past decades from one of detachment to over-involvement. Kids used to be left to their own devices. Parents weren't obsessing about the impact their behaviors had on their kids. As long as they ate and went to school and stayed out of trouble, things were fine.

​21st century parenting, often referred to as helicopter parenting, is defined by hyper-awareness of child development and an obsessive and controlling approach to child-rearing. It feels like opposite sides of the same coin, from laissez faire to overbear.

I was talking with someone in a session this week about his relationship and he told me how a friend told him that there are a lot of people in happy relationships out there. It got us talking about what it means to be in a happy relationship. He is struggling in his relationship right now, but he still feels like he and his partner are best friends and that they love and care for each other.

It’s hard for couples to appreciate it at the moment, but recognizing that you’re stuck and choosing to do something about it places you in a small percentage of couples that are willing to take this step.

I’ve said this to virtually every couple that I’ve worked with and more often than not it’s met with shrugs and blank stares. They're often suffering so much at that point that the fact that they recognized they needed help and did something about it doesn’t provide much solace.